Gotland's Picture Stones

GOTLAND Gotland’s Picture Stones Bearers of an Enigmatic Legacy otland’s picture stones have long evoked people’s fascination, whether this ’ Ghas been prompted by an interest in life in Scandinavia in the first millennium S PICTURE STONES or an appreciation of the beauty of the stones. The Gotlandic picture stones offer glimpses into an enigmatic world, plentifully endowed with imagery, but they also arouse our curiosity. What was the purpose and significance of the picture stones in the world of their creators, and what underlying messages nestle beneath their imagery and broader context? As a step towards elucidating some of the points at issue and gaining an insight into current research, the Runic Research Group at the Swe- dish National Heritage Board, in cooperation with Gotland Museum, arranged an inter national interdisciplinary symposium in 2011, the first symposium ever to focus exclu sively on Gotland’s picture stones. The articles presented in this publication are based on the lectures delivered at that symposium. of an Enigmatic Legacy Bearers ISBN 978-91-88036-86-5 9 789188 036865 GOTLAND’S PICTURE STONES Bearers of an Enigmatic Legacy gotländskt arkiv 2012 Reports from the Friends of the Historical Museum Association Volume 84 publishing costs have been defrayed by Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien, Wilhelmina von Hallwyls Gotlandsfond, Stiftelsen Mårten Stenbergers stipendiefond and Sällskapet DBW:s stiftelse editor Maria Herlin Karnell editorial board Maria Herlin Karnell, Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt, Magnus Källström, Lars Sjösvärd, Klara Waldenström and Per Widerström production Fornsalen Publishing, Gotland Museum english translations and editing Kathy Gow Sjöblom front cover Detail of the picture stone Lärbro Stora Hammars I, photo by Raymond Hejdström graphic design Helena Duveborg printers Elanders Fälth & Hässler 2012 Authors are personally responsible for the content of their articles © Gotland Museum and respective authors Volume 84 isbn 978-91-88036-86-5 laila kitzler åhfeldt Picture Stone Workshops and Handicraft Traditions n old question within picture stone research is Awhether the production of picture stones was carried out within different associations of carvers, linked to different schools and workshops.1 I imagine a workshop as being a style-wise closely connected, social and economic unity with a master surrounded by apprentices. The workshop may have some kind of fixed home base, but would also be itinerant, occasionally even changing the location of its home base. When I say ‘school’, I mean a fraternity or circle of merely loosely associated carvers, who share the same stylistic features and/or motifs. The master of the workshop may adopt styles which will generate a model, which will eventually lead to a new school, where his apprentices in their turn will establish workshops and pass on the craftsmanship and wealth of treasure, etc. Thus, a school may comprise several workshops.2 As regards other forms of artistic expression, apart from picture stones, Detail of the ARDRE CIST (G 114). Optical 3D-scanning with an 0.27 mm there is within archaeology an extensive discussion con- resolution between the measuring points. 3D-model by the author. cerning Viking Period handicraft and workshops: were the artisans itinerant or settled, what was their status, did 3D-scanning is gradually becoming widespread within trading and craft guilds exist, etc.3 Would it be feasible to archaeology. It takes analysis one step further, making use draw parallels between the production of picture stones of the technique to analyse cutting techniques and use of and other contemporaneous craftwork? templates as a means of distinguishing between handi- In a research project conducted between 2006-2008, craft groups and handicraft traditions. In this article, I will the carved image surfaces of 68 Gotlandic picture stones, give examples of how 3D-scanning can help us to identify as well as picture stone fragments, with an even distribu- carver groups and picture stone workshops. tion from Lindqvist’s Groups A-E, were scanned with a portable optical 3D scanner.4 The result of the 3D-scan- Documentation Using Optical 3D-Scanning ning was a three-dimensional digital model of an image The attributes, i.e. objects and accessories in the motif, surface with high resolution, in this case 0.27 mm, play a vital role in the interpretation of the picture stones. which reproduced the structure of the surface with its They provide the key to the pictures on the stones, and dressing and cutting lines (fig. 1). Documentation using show how these can be linked to myths and legends in the 183 Optical 3D-scanning of the picture stone Traditional methods used by picture stone schol- BROSTENEN in Gotland museum’s storeroom. ars to highlight the motifs on the often decomposed or 3D-model by the author. damaged image surfaces have included side lighting and two dimensional photographic methods. Making casts Norse pictorial world, as we know it, mainly from the Ice- using latex7 and frottage (rubbing)8 have also been used landic sagas and from motifs on metal objects, textiles, etc. as aids. In enigmatic cases, new details tend to emerge Unfortunately, these picture stones are often in poor con- following virtually every new thorough examination, dition, the carved relief and incised lines are ill-defined and depending on method and lighting. the motif may be scuffed or damaged. New analyses gener- In Sune Lindqvist’s classical Gotlands Bildsteine from ally lead to new or reinterpretations of motifs which are of 1941-42, the motifs on many of the picture stones have significance for iconographic studies.5 It can be seen from been highlighted with paint. Lindqvist explained that literary sources on picture stones that interpretations vary he had tried to avoid chalk or paint, but found it dif- considerably, depending on which details the interpreter ficult to achieve distinct photographs, so he used the has seen and attached importance to.6 same method as had been used on runestones, namely 184 to paint contours and surfaces with water- soluble coloured pigment.9 It should be emphasized that Lindqvist was also very much aware of the fact that highlighting motifs on enigmatic stones with paint meant that he had actually produced a form of reconstruction.10 There- fore, he often also took photographs of the stones with a side light, prior to painting, whereby many details in the carving were projected. This technique may have been inspired by Erik Moltke, who had developed methods for recording runestones, using photography, in the 1930s. Lindqvist might also have used the same coloured pigment – carbon black (which is based on soot). Moltke meant that there were advantages to be gained from pho- tographing the runestones both before and after painting – the former to highlight details, the latter to gain an overall view.11 The photographs of the painted stones can thus be seen as useful for assessment and orientation. Awareness of the significance of details, and of the fact that painting might conceal details that could block interpretations, has altered the modern view of how to treat picture stones. Whenever a limestone monument is painted, the coloured pigment actually soaks into the material. This is an irreversible action, which elimi- nates the possibility of analysis of any possible prehis- toric traces of colour, as well as obstructing alternative Interpretation of the picture stone BROSTENEN (Gotland deciphering and pictorial interpretations. Painting lime- Museum Inv.no. C21905 discovered in connection with cable trench digging) after 3D-scanning. stone monuments is definitely not recommended these days, it can actually be considered presumptuous that one single scholar’s interpretation could influence a later One example of 3D-scanning, which has produced observer’s perceptions of a picture stone. A far superior good results, is the picture stone brostenen, discovered alternative is for newly-discovered carved surfaces to be in connection with cable trench digging in 2001. The recorded using an optical 3D scanner, the interpreta- first record was based on side light examination.13 In tions being presented for example in a picture or copy 2007, the stone was subjected to 3D-scanning which or by a light show projecting images on the picture- resulted in the discovery of several other motifs on the stone photocomposition.12 Only a few laboratory analy- carved image surface, including a formerly overlooked ses have been made on Gotlandic picture stones, mean- horserider. We can now draw the conclusion that the ing that the greatest care should be taken in the event brostenen stone is of the same type as the picture stone of new discoveries, where chances are greatest of finding lärbro stora hammars i (se bild s. 19). and analyzing traces of original colour. 185 GARDE BOTA NÄR SMISS I LÄRBRO TÄNGELGÅRDA I ALSKOG TJÄNGVIDE I 12 3 4 186 Cutting Techniques in Picture Stone Ships The methods for highlighting the lozenges fall into four One subject of extensive discussion has been whether main variants (see facing page): the picture stones illustrate real-life motifs, which can 1. Shading, i.e. striation in every alternate lozenge. be used to understand facts about the material culture, No lines. E.g. garde bota. or if the motifs are to be largely understood as mytho- 2. Shallow incisions, no more than a marked groove logical. The ship is widely known as the most common base. E.g. klinte hunninge 1, stenkyrka and most dominating motif on the Gotlandic picture lillbjärs iii. Poss. stenkyrka lillbjärs xvii, stones, and has above all been the all-important sub- stenkyrka smiss i, när smiss i, SHM Inv.no. ject of research within maritime culture. Some mean 45110:1 (location unknown). that they are mythological ships, while others claim 3. Broad carvings, parallel cutting lines appear in the that they are real-life depictions.14 The sail of the picture groove base.

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